Picked up Little Inferno last night, from the makers of World of Goo. You burn things. It's pretty. It's way deeper than it seems on the surface, and it's really, really good. I'm maybe halfway through the "game", and 1) I have no idea how it's going to play out, and 2) I can't wait to find out.

Highly recommended.

iPhone 4S and up only?? Is it true?

Yup. Don't think it was developed for iOS primarily or first (though it works beautifully with touch), so. The graphics are great—I imagine they require the 4S's GPU as a minimum. If you have the horsepower, check it out.

It's definitely not for everyone, and I don't know if I'd even call it a "game". It's more of a... toy. With a statement to make. And I can totally see you getting whatever benefit you were going to get from it by watching a video, with no further need to play it.

Spent the last week on the couch after having some messed up bursae cut out of my knee (ow), and after Ms Splosion Man refused to go past the first stage on my HTPC, my phone became my best friend. Here are some highlights (I typically grab stuff when it has dropped to free or $1, but prices seem to change all the time, now):

Injustice - The phone version of the DC Universe 2.5D fighting game coming to consoles. Obviously not as deep as the console versions, but the quality was pretty surprising. The game generally ends up (virtual) button mashing, but the eye candy of recent versions of your hero and villian favorites is nice for free.

Lie Swatter - From the 'You Don't Know Jack' people. You get a list of "facts", some of which are bogus. You try to pick the bogus ones without getting 3 strikes for picking true facts. Typical funny YDKJ flair. Free with currency that burns as you play and refills over time.

Sonic Dash - The hedgehog finally in his own free over-the-shoulder endless runner. It's pretty easy to get finger-tied when things get crazy, but it's Sonic in a genre where he's probably most qualified to be.

Colosseum Defense - This came out of nowhere, and I'm not sure what you call the genre. You're on the wall of a castle you're defending on the left side of the screen, manning a fixed auto-fire cannon that can cycle through 3 different types of ammo, as waves of baddies flow in from the right. It was free when I got it and I was surprised to find how polished it was.

Fairune - About as close to Zelda 1 as I've seen on the phone. The focus is more on puzzle solving, but the art and play style really took me back. And it was free.

Scribble Shooter - A fun little ditty from Nickelodeon of all studios. There are tons of "pencil-drawn-characters-on-a-paper-background" clones out there, but this simplified dual-stick shooter (so simplified that it's actually a single-stick shooter) has some cool tricks up its sleeve that make it fun. One is the death system. When you die, it rewinds to the beginning of the stage and you play alongside your ghost, which is repeating the actions you took up to the point you died. Pretty cool.

Plasma Sky - Fiiiinally, a (vertical) shmup that remembers when the fun and challenge of shmups were rooted in diverse enemy patterns, instead of hopping on the modern bullet hell bandwagon. And it even uses neon vector graphics to ratchet the aesthetic up just that bit more. Powerups are acquired in-session, like it's ancestors, instead of purchased single use boosters. Paid $1 for this one. Glad I did.

Toon Shooters - A horizontal shmup, obviously rooted in cartoony art. Different ships have different abilities (one shoots only forward and another shoots in 360 degrees, for instance) and there are a number of single use boosters and companions that can be bought with earned in-game currency, but it does ultimately feel like they're nudging you toward IAP.

Slayin' - This game is brilliant, but I'm having a hard time describing why. If you grew up in the era of simple 8-bit action games, my just saying that may be enough to convey what makes it so awesome. The art and music are spot on and the icon for the game is even a Nintendo-style cartridge. The game takes place on a single screen, running back and forth horizontally, slaying a constant stream of baddies with your permanently outstretched weapon (or whirlwind power in the mage character's case), jumping to avoid projectiles and such. What puts it over the top, though, is the very light RPG elements. You gain levels that pertain to the particular session as you advance and a merchant drops in here and there during the action to let you buy armor and weapon upgrades (or different types of magic in the case of the mage character) that last for that particular session. You can use earned game currency to buy controller skins, custom leaderboard tombstones, and to unlock a hard mode (starts you at level 80) and a "boss rush" mode where you just fight all the bosses back-to-back.

Nimble Quest is also heavily in the mix, but it's been covered further up. I just wanted to touch on its staying power and the pretty neat "guild" system (called "Arena"), which lets you play for any "guild" as long as you know its name. You play a sort of survival mode against a predetermined set of baddies that seem to rotate every 48 hours or so, when the guild and in-guild leaderboards are tallied and members are doled reward tokens for their placement. Unfortunately, you have to spend tokens to play in the Arena, but I can usually pay 1 for 1 session and get 3 back as a reward, as long as I played well enough. The shove toward IAP is actually a little heavier handed and disappointing than I was expecting, but the quality of the game makes up for it.

And finally, Ridiculous Fishing... Not that I played it at all this week, but wanted to mention that I've already forgotten I even have it. I caught all of the fish within just a few days except the few that say the writers aren't paid enough to talk about them or whatever and which I don't feel like playing endlessly in the hopes of happening upon them (playing at a specific time of day or whatever) or having to resort to looking up the solution. I'm still baffled at the hype this game garnered. It's polished, and it's fun enough, but the play is finite and extremely short. So it didn't have any IAP at all. Woopideedoo. Lots of other games don't have IAP. And many that do just offer convenience items if you don't have the patience to earn what you need. It should have been $1. Who knows. Maybe they'll surprise us and expand it with more areas, new fish, and new game elements to earn its $3 price tag.

Colosseum Defense - This came out of nowhere, and I'm not sure what you call the genre. You're on the wall of a castle you're defending on the left side of the screen, manning a fixed auto-fire cannon that can cycle through 3 different types of ammo, as waves of baddies flow in from the right. It was free when I got it and I was surprised to find how polished it was.

I believe this is called the "castle defense" genre. Anywho, thanks for the brief reviews. Plasma Sky sounds up my alley. Will have to check it out later. Sorry about the injury though

Injustice - The phone version of the DC Universe 2.5D fighting game coming to consoles. Obviously not as deep as the console versions, but the quality was pretty surprising. The game generally ends up (virtual) button mashing, but the eye candy of recent versions of your hero and villian favorites is nice for free.

One thing worth mentioning that's awesome is that the Injustice IOS game has 5 new skins to unlock for the console version! Other goodies like backgrounds and portraits also...but the skins are pretty cool. I'm really enjoying playing this game because of this extra hook.

If you are going to play the game to get the skins don't blunder like I did. When you are prompted to rate the game after the 1st real battle say yes! If you don't say yes and rate it when prompted, you won't be able to unlock the Knightfall Bane skin without a 2nd IOS device. I had to install the app on my wife's iphone to get the app to prompt me. Rating the app independently afterwards(i.e. without the prompt) didn't unlock the skin. Deleting and re-installing the app will supposedly work, but you risk losing all game progress if you don't have icloud app saves enabled. Save yourself the hassle and rate it when prompted

Badland (Universal, $3.99, has iCloud progress sync across devices) is a fantastic indie game, destined to be one of the best on iOS. It's beautiful and moody, fun and challenging. You fly a flock of little fluffy owl-looking things through a 2-D obstacle course, through an ever changing background, toward a suction pipe that leads to the next level. It has shades of World of Goo all over the place, and the mood and atmosphere of the game does all of the explaining. There is no traditional exposition telling you what the story is, only the beautiful art. It's surprisingly engaging.

I played it on my TV via AirPlay mirroring with my kids on Saturday morning. I intended just to try it out and show them for a few minutes, but it sucked us in, and didn't let go until we finished the main "quest" two hours later. More levels are "coming soon". There are also lots of achievements and other stuff that gives it good replay value.

There's also a single-device 4-player multiplayer mode which is simple and fun, but kind of hard/frustrating for my youngest (he's 6).

Badland (Universal, $3.99, has iCloud progress sync across devices) is a fantastic indie game, destined to be one of the best on iOS. It's beautiful and moody, fun and challenging. You fly a flock of little fluffy owl-looking things through a 2-D obstacle course, through an ever changing background, toward a suction pipe that leads to the next level. It has shades of World of Goo all over the place, and the mood and atmosphere of the game does all of the explaining. There is no traditional exposition telling you what the story is, only the beautiful art. It's surprisingly engaging.

I played it on my TV via AirPlay mirroring with my kids on Saturday morning. I intended just to try it out and show them for a few minutes, but it sucked us in, and didn't let go until we finished the main "quest" two hours later. More levels are "coming soon". There are also lots of achievements and other stuff that gives it good replay value.

There's also a single-device 4-player multiplayer mode which is simple and fun, but kind of hard/frustrating for my youngest (he's 6).

Definitely worth checking out.

I was laid up for a 2nd week and have been waiting for the chance to drop another mini-review bomb, but Badlands was one of them. I agree completely. It's spectacular in every way. It uses a silhouette effect similar to Limbo (on consoles), with the same creepy atmosphere. I wasn't thrilled with the price, at first, but the "3 star" (in this case, "egg") replayability and promise of future "days" (episodes) lightens the blow. I'm hoping your TV has a good sound system, because the sound is terrific. Anyone playing on the phone/pad, really, really needs to use their earbuds. And one of the other things that really impressed me was how just when it felt like it was going to be a repetitive slog, they throw in all kids of new and different challenges and some really clever effects that will either be required for success or trick you into failure. Can't wait for Day 2.

I agree with everything you said. We played on my TV/home theater system, with really nice sound, and that definitely added to the experience. We (my kids and I) were completely enthralled and played through beginning to end in one sitting.

I've never tried gaming over Airplay before. I looked through all the Badland options (both in game and in Settings), but didn't see an option. Just how do I get this to stream to my Apple TV?

FWIW I was playing on my iPad mini, but could load it on my iPhone 5 instead if needed.

I just use the system-wide AirPlay Mirroring option. Double-click your home button, swipe to the right until you see the little AirPlay icon, select your Apple TV and make sure to switch "Mirroring" on. At that point, you should see everything on your iPad/iPhone screen on your TV, and all sound will go through the TV, too. To turn it off, reverse the steps.

This only works with newer devices and versions of iOS (v5.1, I think), but if you have an iPad mini, you're good to go.

Couple of interesting looking games are out this week. I have bought these, but haven't played them yet (but the fact that I bought them should tell you something).

Halfbrick's Fish Out of Water ($0.99, Universal). A very cute looking "see how far you can make your fish fly" game. What makes this interesting is Halfbrick's pedigree - they made Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride. That alone was worth the $1 for me.

ZeptoLab's Cut The Rope: Time Travel ($0.99 for iPhone, $2.99 for iPad). Cut the Rope is a staple in my house. I don't play it that much, but by wife has made it her obsession to three star every single level. This is a completely new game, not an update to previous versions (which might make some people mad, and cry "rip off!" - to those people, I say "stop whining. It's a buck (or three). Good developers deserve to get paid."). Looks like the mechanics involve getting the candy to two "Om Noms" per level, something to do with Om Nom's ancestors. Like I said, I haven't played it yet, but I know I can say goodbye to my wife for a few evenings once I show it to her.

I've never tried gaming over Airplay before. I looked through all the Badland options (both in game and in Settings), but didn't see an option. Just how do I get this to stream to my Apple TV?

FWIW I was playing on my iPad mini, but could load it on my iPhone 5 instead if needed.

I just use the system-wide AirPlay Mirroring option. Double-click your home button, swipe to the right until you see the little AirPlay icon, select your Apple TV and make sure to switch "Mirroring" on. At that point, you should see everything on your iPad/iPhone screen on your TV, and all sound will go through the TV, too. To turn it off, reverse the steps.

This only works with newer devices and versions of iOS (v5.1, I think), but if you have an iPad mini, you're good to go.

Wow, thanks! I had no idea this existed. I kept trying to find games that natively supported Airplay (like how the video view has the Airplay button next to play and ff/rew)

Apple has definitely lost their edge on making features obvious. I feel like they could've at least added an Airplay section to Settings.app that mentioned how to turn it on..

I created an "ars" league in Fish Out Of Water. I'm lonely. Come join me. It's actually a fun little game. Designed to trigger all the feedback loops in our brains to keep us playing "one more game".

Challenge accepted. Today's record beaten. During a storm even. Heh. I actually bought the game yesterday morning. Very polished. Only $1. And given the dev's pedigree, I'm sure there will be more to come in updates. The one thing I do wish was for more progression, or at least more extended throws 'Crazy Smashers' style, where leveling or items potentially increase skips or distance, with new things to discover in the landscape ("seascape"?) as you make it further out. They could accomplish it by making crystals permanent. And maybe toss in some hazards like leaping sharks and such. Interestingly, my very first try at the game was during snow, with parts of the water frozen. Supposedly, you can happen upon a jellyfish school, too.

Also, I created a league in Nimble Quest, too. It's just "ars" as well.

Yes, right now, that's the only device I know of that supports Airplay for video. Lots of speakers and receivers support audio, but if you want to see stuff from your Apple devices wirelessly on your TV, you need an Apple TV. Or an adapter for HDMI/DVI/VGA (but then it's not wireless, obv.).

As an aside, I absolutely love my Apple TV, and it is the main way our family of four watches stuff. Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, plus all the content in iTunes (and whatever's sitting on the computers on my network) are all easily watchable, and we often throw things up on the TV from our iPhones/iPads via Airplay. I highly recommend it.

I created an "ars" league in Fish Out Of Water. I'm lonely. Come join me. It's actually a fun little game. Designed to trigger all the feedback loops in our brains to keep us playing "one more game".

Challenge accepted. Today's record beaten. During a storm even. Heh. I actually bought the game yesterday morning. Very polished. Only $1. And given the dev's pedigree, I'm sure there will be more to come in updates. The one thing I do wish was for more progression, or at least more extended throws 'Crazy Smashers' style, where leveling or items potentially increase skips or distance, with new things to discover in the landscape ("seascape"?) as you make it further out. They could accomplish it by making crystals permanent. And maybe toss in some hazards like leaping sharks and such. Interestingly, my very first try at the game was during snow, with parts of the water frozen. Supposedly, you can happen upon a jellyfish school, too.

Cool. I hit a boring spot in the game last night, where I was essentially just grinding throw after throw to unlock whatever the current goal was (throw Olympus 800m, or something like that). Made me lose interest for the evening. I'll come back, but Halfbrick usually has such impeccable pacing (see: Jetpack Joyride) that I was a little surprised.

So far the only weather I've seen is sunny, cloudy, and stormy (with waves). Snow and ice (and jellyfish schools) sounds pretty cool - enough to pique my interest and keep playing. Which I'm sure was their point.

EDIT: Also, if you like the "fly as far as you can" genre, I've found that the Adventure Time game Jumping Finn Turbo is pretty great. Lots of variety of power ups and environmental objects that boost/hinder you, and the pacing was such that I didn't feel like I was "grinding" at any point. I quit playing after I "beat" it, though you can keep going in endless mode to set new records, etc. But it's quite a fun game, especially if you're an Adventure Time fan.

I created an "ars" league in Fish Out Of Water. I'm lonely. Come join me. It's actually a fun little game. Designed to trigger all the feedback loops in our brains to keep us playing "one more game".

Can you join a league without a Facebook or G+ login?

It doesn't seem so. Boo.

I joined with Facebook, and it hasn't done any of the usual spammy crap you might worry about - post anything to my timeline, etc. In fact, I didn't even see a way to find Facebook friends that are also playing - a feature I kind of like in other games and apps. So for what it's worth, I would say it's pretty low risk to log in with your Facebook account.

This isn't the place for the discussion, but Google and Facebook already have a list of IP addresses I've connected from in the past. It's kind of an open secret they do (and should, if they really want to build mineable networks) keep "dark" profiles. They would know it's me. I'd rather leave that door shut rather than even cracking it open.

To do a lot of features, you need to have some sort of way of directly interacting with the users... typically you'd use a login for most PC games. GameCenter, although pretty good, doesn't do everything you'd want to do. Forming clubs or clans is a good example of that. So, if you want to implement those features, you either have to have users create a login (from their phone, which many won't want to do) or just let them use their pre-entered credentials from another service. FB logins are often way lower friction and even easier to develop than your own login system.

I got all 10s after about an hour of the fish game, I didn't even use the crystals. I've sunk so many hours into fruit ninja and jet pack joyride I was hoping this one would have a little more to it. I don't see a way to get a higher score. Poops.

To do a lot of features, you need to have some sort of way of directly interacting with the users... typically you'd use a login for most PC games. GameCenter, although pretty good, doesn't do everything you'd want to do. Forming clubs or clans is a good example of that. So, if you want to implement those features, you either have to have users create a login (from their phone, which many won't want to do) or just let them use their pre-entered credentials from another service. FB logins are often way lower friction and even easier to develop than your own login system.

How does FB logins allow clans or clubs in a way that Game Center does not? You don't actually have to be Facebook friends with the people you're in the Fish league with. Maybe I don't know enough about the Facebook and Google+ API's here, but it doesn't seem to be the choice between "Facebook" and "roll your own."

To do a lot of features, you need to have some sort of way of directly interacting with the users... typically you'd use a login for most PC games. GameCenter, although pretty good, doesn't do everything you'd want to do. Forming clubs or clans is a good example of that. So, if you want to implement those features, you either have to have users create a login (from their phone, which many won't want to do) or just let them use their pre-entered credentials from another service. FB logins are often way lower friction and even easier to develop than your own login system.

How does FB logins allow clans or clubs in a way that Game Center does not? You don't actually have to be Facebook friends with the people you're in the Fish league with. Maybe I don't know enough about the Facebook and Google+ API's here, but it doesn't seem to be the choice between "Facebook" and "roll your own."

It gives access to unique info about the users themselves. You are correct that a self-made user account system would solve the problem like a FB account would. From that POV, it's just a guess on the dev's part as to whether FB accounts are lower friction (and worth the ups/downs) over making their own account system. iOS policies (for good or ill) put a reasonably strong partition between developers and users. Without some sort of outside-of-GC account, its difficult to add extra info to support features beyond what GC itself supports.

What's the prohibition in question about Game Center that specifically disallows the leagues in Fish Out of Water? I'm still missing something here. The leagues aren't maintained on FB or G+, so is there some prohibition of making a list of unique user IDs from Game Center accounts?

From what I've been reading, the gamer world is in turmoil over whether Star Command is actually good or not. It's a mix of astronomical expectations from people who went starry eyed over the devs' vision, similar expectations from taking so long to release, the fact that the game is admittedly not what the devs originally envisioned, the supposed extreme difficulty, and the impression that you just go from battle to battle...battling...with nothing significant happening between.

I've been enjoying it enough that I've restarted the campaign twice because I want to see how decisions would effect the story (and maybe I lost too many crew members...maybe) and ran down the battery on my iPhone twice before I switched to my iPad and wore that out.

I haven't played an iOS game this much since Angry Birds first came out.

The ship to ship combat is super slow so far and despite me repeatedly missing all of my shots I still survive the encounters. The shipboard combat is actually a bit fast and I don't always feel like I know when they have beamed aboard.

Not sure I would compare it to Game Dev Story outside of artwork and it being a "sim" ... so far.

RE:Star Command. I'm only about 45 minutes into it but it's been fun so far. First, I'm absolutely shocked at how well it runs on the iPad 1. I'd just about given up on most games at this point. The graphics are delightfully done and the encounters have been pretty interesting so far. Some of the game mechanics could use a little more introduction (shooting mini-games, dodging tactics, etc.).

It's no FTL or Game Dev Story but I'm looking forward to logging some more hours this weekend.